Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival director of programming Sean Farnel is leaving the top Canadian festival after six years in the job.

Farnel was coy about his next move in a departing message on his website, Ripping Reality, on Monday, only saying he is embracing “the notion of having some room to roam, to being a professional omnivore, a free agent, and at some point, to taking your calls to persuade me to settle down.”

Farnel said he was also leaving Hot Docs on a personal career and festival high.

“… with over 150,000 admissions and a 24% increase in earned revenues, the festival has more then tripled its audience over the past six years. With that, Hot Docs is now a close second to IDFA as the world’s largest documentary film festival,” he wrote.

The veteran programmer added that his and Hot Docs’ ascension to record heights came as the Canadian point-of-view documentary suffered a stark collapse in funding from domestic broadcasters and industry funds.

“More importantly, it was helping to get documentaries funded, even if only placing a patch on an increasingly tattered funding net for creative documentary,” Farnel said on the website.

Before joining Hot Docs in 2005, Farnel worked for five years as a film programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival.